Aarogya Setu: Who all can access your data, and when?

News:Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology has issued a data-sharing and knowledge-sharing protocol for the Aarogya Setu app.

Facts:

Key Features of the Protocol:

• Nodal Ministry: Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) is designated as the nodal agency for implementation of the Protocol.
• Data Collection: National Informatics Centre(NIC) will be responsible for collection, processing and managing response data collected under the app.
• Categories of Data: The data collected by app is divided into four categories: demographic data, contact data, self-assessment data and location data.This is collectively called response data.
• Sharing of Data: Collected data can be shared with any government department or ministry which can also pass it on to third parties for the purpose to directly formulate or implement appropriate health responses.
• Data Deletion:Location and self-assessment data of an individual shall be permanently deleted after 180 days with some exceptions.However, Individuals can seek deletion of demographic data within 30 days of raising a request.
• Research: Government will allow research institutes to study the data collected by the app after it has undergone hard anonymisation – a process to scrub it of personally identifiable information.
• Violation: The violation of the protocol will lead to the penalties under the Disaster Management Act, 2005.

Additional Facts:

Aarogya- Setu App:

• It has been developed through Public Private partnership under the guidance of National Informatics Centre(NIC), Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology(MeitY).
• Purpose: To enable people to assess the risk of catching the Corona Virus infection based on their interaction with others using cutting edge Bluetooth technology, algorithms and artificial intelligence.